I remember telling my friends that the bounty hunter Bossk was in ROJ and they didn't believe me. Well...they didn't believe me until I showed them card #23! Apparently there was no hard feelings between Boba and Bossk since they're hanging out in Jabba's palace.

Here's a selection of Jedi prop photos that I snapped back in the 1990s at various places. (Sorry for the poor photography on my part, but these were taken before the days of digital cameras.)

Speeder Bike on display at the end of the Backlot Tour at MGM Studios, Orlando in 1994. They had two Speeder Bikes hanging from the ceiling.

On display in front of Star Tours in MGM Studios, Orlando is a Tatooine Skiff and a Snowspeeder. There seems to be speculation on the internet if these vehicles were actually screen used. Photo taken in 1994.

Also, part of the display for Star Tours in MGM Studios, Orlando is this crashed Speeder Bike. Photo taken in 1994.

Jabba the Hutt's eyes on display in Special Effects 2 at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Photo taken in 1996.

Harrison Ellenshaw's matte painting of the Death Star's reactor shaft on display in Special Effects 2 at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Photo taken in 1996.

Yak Face mask on display in Special Effects 2 at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Photo taken in 1996.

Ree-Yees mask on display in Special Effects 2 at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Photo taken in 1996.

Weequay mask on display in Special Effects 2 at St. Louis Science Center. Photo taken in 1997.

Return of the Jedi storyboards on display in Special Effects 2 at the St. Louis Science Center. Photo taken in 1997.

Darth Vader's costume from Return of the Jedi on display outside of Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas in 1998.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

I wasn't planning on using any content from Bantha Tracks for Jedi Week, but when I was looking through my old issues I came across this 1982 article. Apparently Lucasfilm was promoting the third Star Wars movie, still titled Revenge of the Jedi, at the 40th World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago.

In this photo taken by Maureen Garrett, the director of the Star Wars fan club, we see the original Han Solo in Carbonite prop on display. Wow! That would have been something to see back in 1982 along with all those Jedi photos! Also, according to the article there was a full size Speeder Bike on display. If seeing those props weren't enough, Producer Howard Kazanjian and Senior Vice President of Marketing Sidney Ganis gave an hour-long panel about the film. They showed an eleven minute documentary that I would love to see called The Making of JEDI Monsters.

I didn't expect the documentary to be available on the internet but was surprised that there's not any photos of the Jedi exhibit in my search. The article says that more than 5000 people saw the exhibit. I'm sure a few out of that 5000 snapped some photographs. There just has to be a snapshot of some kid standing in front of frozen Han. C'mon internet, let's see those Jedi Exhibit photos from Chicon IV!!!

I've posted the article below that was originally printed in Bantha Tracks #18 from November 1982. Click on it to read it.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Cutesy cartoons ruled Saturday mornings in the mid-1980s with shows like Smurfs, Snorks, Rainbow Brite and the Muppet Babies. I hated those cartoons! There was no more Thundarr the Barbarian or Flash Gordon, but instead just saccharin sweet fluffy fluff. The stupid tube was forcing me to quit watching cartoons and to grow up. What was Saturday morning coming to? In my 8th grade math class, I attempted to draw my Saturday morning disgust with the above spoof, Revenge of the Jedi Babies.

Wedge Antilles survived all three Star Wars films. For that, I think we should all congratulate good ol' Wedge! The interesting thing about this card is this scene never made it into the film. In the celebration scene, we see Han walking away from Wedge followed by a congratulation from Chewbacca.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Cartoonist Tom Batiuk apparently caught Jedi fever and created an ongoing series of Jedi Jokes within his comic strip Funky Winkerbean. I was a regular reader of Funky and was happy to see the Jedi Jokes show up. Eventually readers were invited to send in their own Jedi Jokes for a chance to have them turned into a comic.

I remember cutting out and saving most of the strips, but for whatever reason only two survived, tucked inside a scrap book.

Using Google newspapers, I was able to virtually cut out the strips and post them here. Not sure if I found them all, but here's a good nice collection to bring back some fun. (Click on the strips to go slightly bigger.)

We first start with three Return of the Jedi related strips that were published before the Jedi Jokes.